Time-Bindings The Newsletter of the

www.generalsemantics.org

Vol.28, No.2-3 Summer/Fall2010

A Message From Lance Strate, Executive Director:

If you haven't done so already, now is the time to register for the 58th Annual Alfred Korzybski Memorial Lecture Dinner, which will be held at Fordham University once again, on Oct. 29, 2010. Just mail in the enclosed form, or better yet, go to our website, http://generalsemantics.org, and register online. And this is also the time to register for the New Languages, New Relations, New Realities Symposium, to be held on the weekend of Oct. 29-31, 2010. Registra- tion is free for IGS members, so please make sure that your dues are up to date, and help us to spread the word about this exciting event. The highlight of the symposium will of course be the 58th Annual Alfred Korzybski Memorial Lecture, featuring Deborah Tannen,

renowned author and University Professor and Professor of Linguistics at Georgetown University, who will speak on "Language and New Media: How Texting, Tweeting, E-mail and Facebook are Transforming Relationships," as detailed in the last issue of Time-Bindings. Our symposium will also feature the return of two former Korzybski lecturers, Nicholas Johnson and Douglas Rushkoff, and film screenings courtesy of the daughters of two former Korzybski lecturers, Nora Bateson, daughter of Gregory Bateson (and sister of last year's Korzybski lecturer, Mary Catherine Bateson), and Tiffany Shlain, daughter of Leonard Shlain. Other symposium participants include media theorist Paul Levinson, philosophy of technology scholar David Rothenberg, media historian from Columbia University's School of Journalism Michael Schudson, urban communication researchers Gary Gumpert and Susan Drucker, literary critic Marleen Barr, American studies professor from the University of Bologna Elena Lamberti, media historian from Adelphi University Margaret Cassidy, University of North Dakota communication professor Richard Fiordo, Chair of Communication Arts and Sciences at Metropolitan State College of Denver Karen Lollar, California University of Pennsylvania communication professor Susan Jasko, linguistics scholar from Fairleigh Dickinson University Zhenbin Sun, Marymount Manhattan College communication professor Anastacia Kurylo, Gregory Allan Thompson, who is a Dr. Sanford I. Berman Post-Doctoral Scholar at the University of California, San Diego, graduate students Blake Seidenshaw from Columbia University's Teachers College, Alessandro Saluppo from Fordham University, Kristin English from the University of Georgia, and Joseph Faina of the University of Texas, Austin, not to mention such IGS stalwarts as Milton Dawes, Frank Scardilli, Bob Eddy, Andy Hilgartner, Eva Berger, Bill Petkanas, and yours truly. We will also feature a writers' roundtable that will include novelists Chuck Wachtel, Leslie Carroll (aka Amanda Elyot), Michelle Anderson, and others. We look forward to an intellectually stimulating and enjoyable symposium, and we look forward to seeing you there if you can make it!

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Bob Eddy to Receive the 2010 Samuel I. Hayakawa Book Prize We are pleased to announce that Bob Eddy is the winner of the Institute of General Semantics 2010 Samuel I Hayakawa Book Prize, on the strength of Graymanship: The Management of Organizational Imperfection, published by Multi-Dimensional Press. Bob Eddy was a native Californian, living his first 40 years there, but moving to, and falling in love with, Pennsylvania 35 years ago. He received a bachelor’s and master’s degree from UCLA with Beta Gamma Sigma honors. Also serving in the Navy, he attained the rank of Lieutenant, Senior Grade. His industrial experience includes human resources assignments, the most prominent of which was Corporate Personnel Director of Levi Strauss & Company, in charge of personnel administration for the then 26,000 employees

worldwide. Currently he is a management consultant working to improve the performance of scores of organizations. The idea for Graymanship came in 1967, and Bob devoted the next forty-two years to part-time research on the topic, writing, and editing.

Graymanship: The Management of Organizational Imperfection is the result of Bob Eddy’s 42-year crusade to try to bring sanity to our work lives, which are so often muddied with miscommunications, incompetence, disorganization, disruption, disobedience, inequity, disloyalty, politics, unethical behavior, conflict, and cynicism. They are pandemic. Drew Carey said, “Oh, you hate your job? Why didn't you say so? There's a support group for that. It's called EVERYBODY, and they meet at the bar.” Graymanship’s approach is not the typical attempt at symptomatic relief, but rather an

of-the-box, counter-intuitive approach that results in 66 heuristics we can use in our quest for organizational sanity.

Bob Eddy will be presented with the 2010 Hayakawa Prize, which includes a monetary award of $1,000, at the 58th Annual Alfred Korzybski Memorial Lecture and will be one of the featured speakers at the New Languages, New Relations, New Realities Symposium held at Fordham University in New York City on October 29-31. At the Media Ecology Association Meeting in Orono, Maine The IGS was well represented at the Eleventh Annual Convention of the Media Ecology Association, which was hosted by the University of Maine at Orono on June 10th-13th. IGS President Martin Levinson, Vice-President Jacqueline Rudig, and Treasurer George Barenholtz staffed the IGS table, which proved to be one of the most popular attractions at the event. To the right, George Barenholtz takes in one of the program sessions; seated to his right is Nora Bateson, who screened a portion of her documentary about her father, Gregory Bateson, at the convention (the documentary will be shown in its

entirety at our New Languages, New Relations, New Realities Symposium in New York City, October 29-31, 2010, and yes, Alfred Korzybski does come up during the course of the film). Nora's sister, Mary Catherine Bateson, reprised the themes from the Alfred Korzybski Memorial Lecture that she gave last year as one of the featured speakers at the MEA meeting, and was presented with the MEA's Neil Postman Award for Outstanding Career Achievement as a Public Intellectual. To the left, ETC Contributing Editor Ray Gozzi sits in on a panel discussion, after presenting a paper on "The Metaphor of Cloud

in-depth questioning of how we come by our picture of these ailments. The result is an out-

Computing." General semantics was the focus of one of the program sessions, chaired by Jackie Rudig, which featured papers by IGS Trustee Corey Anton on "Situating Korzybski," Lance Strate on "Korzybski, Luhmann, and McLuhan," and Geri Forsberg of Western Washington University on "Abstraction: Language, Television, and Culture." Dr. Forsberg also presented a paper on "Korzybski's Theory of Abstraction: Language, Media and Culture" at a session devoted to founding figures of media ecology. To the right, IGS

Executive Director and MEA Board Member Lance Strate coordinates the presentation of the 2010 MEA awards. To the left, IGS Trustee and MEA Vice-President Thom Gencarelli listens intently at another breakout session. Thom also represented the IGS at the International Communication Association's annual meeting in Singapore on June 22nd-26th. A New Edition of Selections from Science and Sanity As the first step in reviving the publishing program of both the Institute of General Semantics and the International Society for General Semantics, a new edition of Alfred Korzybski's authorized abridgement of Science and Sanity is being made available. The Second Edition of Selections from Science and Sanity will feature a new Foreword courtesy of Korzybski biographer Bruce I. Kodish, the relevant portions of Robert P. Pula's Preface to the Fifth Edition of Science and Sanity, and a new, more comprehensive index. Selections from Science and Sanity will be available in paperback at an affordable price, and is suitable for classroom use, which was Korzybski's original intention. In the coming months, we will

other volumes of original work, and also intend to reprint some of the classics of general semantics, as part of the New Non-Aristotelian Library book series. IGS Trustee Corey Anton serves as supervisory editor of this series, which is being coordinated by Executive Director Lance Strate. Paradox Lost Represents a New Find for General Semantics

We are also pleased to make available for sale through the IGS website a new work of interest to general semanticists, Paradox Lost: A Cross-Contextual Definition of Levels of Abstraction, by Linda G. Elson. Published posthumously, the book includes a Preface by IGS Trustee Thom Gencarelli, an Introduction by Lance Strate, and an Appendix by Corey Anton. Elson's work is grounded in Alfred Korzybski's program of "consciousness of abstracting" as well as Gregory Bateson's appropriations of Bertrand Russell's theory of logical types. But she argues that Korzybski and Bateson, for all they have done in turning attention to processes of abstraction and levels of logical typing, have nevertheless failed to provide a coherent definition of levels phenomena. Her definition emerges as she explores levels

be publishing

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phenomena that arise in logical paradoxes, considering in turn the liar's paradox, the prediction paradox, and the prisoner's dilemma. She then explores double binds that arise from paradoxical injunctions, and concludes her study with a delightful survey of jokes and a clever analysis of humor in light of the work of Henre Bergson. Elson was a doctoral student who studied under Neil Postman and Christine Nystrom in the Media Ecology program at New York University, and the book was edited by Alan Ponikvar, and published by Hampton Press in the Media Ecology Book Series supervised by Lance Strate. Publication of the 2010 General Semantics Bulletin Delayed When it rains, it pours, and several different factors have contributed to the delays in getting this year's General Semantics Bulletin printed and delivered to you. GSB Editor Brain Cogan is working hard to get the problems resolved, we apologize for the delays, and rest assured IGS members will receive their copies in the near future. General Semantics Workshop to be Offered in the Catskills Lance Strate will offer a workshop session on "Teaching General Semantics in the Basic (and Advanced) Communication Course" will be offered at this year's annual meeting of the New York State Communication Association, Oct. 22-24, in Ellenville, NY. Looking Forward to San Francisco San Francisco is a city of no small significance in the history of general semantics, and the IGS will be present when the National Communication Association comes to town for its annual convention on Nov. 14-17. A special "Roundtable on General Semantics—Advan-cing the Discipline," is being sponsored by NCA First Vice-President Lynn H. Turner of Marquette University, and will feature Michael Cole, who holds the Dr. Sanford I. Berman Chair in General Semantics at the University of California, San Diego; Gregory Allan Thompson, who is a Dr. Sanford I. Berman Post-Doctoral Scholar at the University of California, San Diego; Richard Fiordo of the University of North Dakota; Geri Forsberg of Western Washington University; IGS Trustee Corey Anton of Grand Valley State University; and IGS Executive Director Lance Strate of Fordham University. The session will be moderated by IGS President Martin Levinson, and take place on Sun. Nov. 14 from 2:00-3:15 PM. The Institute will also have a table in the exhibit hall, and both Martin Levinson and Jacqueline Rudig will be present to recruit new members and spread the word about our organization. This year, for the first time, NCA is introducing a "product theater" in their exhibit hall, and we will be taking advantage of this new feature by providing presentations on teaching general semantics on each of the three days that the exhibit hall will be open. On Sunday Nov. 13 at 12:30-1:30 PM, Corey Anton will discuss teaching general semantics in relation to rhetorical criticism and the philosophy of communication. On Monday Nov. 14 at 10:00-11:00 AM, Lance Strate will discuss teaching general semantics in relation to communication theory and media theory. On Tuesday Nov. 15, at 10:00-11:00 AM, Martin Levinson will discuss pragmatic approaches involving general semantics in the classroom.

The Institute of General Semantics 3000 Landers Street, Fort Worth, Texas 76107

|Ph: 817.922.9950 | Fax: 817.922.9903 | igs@generalsemantics.org | | http://www.generalsemantics.org |

Executive Director: Lance Strate Board of Trustees:

Martin H. Levinson, President; Jacqueline Rudig, Vice-President George J. Barenholtz, Treasurer; Vanessa Biard-Schaeffer, Secretary

Corey Anton, Thierry Bardini, Eva Berger, Allen Flagg, Thom Gencarelli, Ben Hauck, Prafulla Kar, Irene Ross-Mayper, Gerard I. Nierenberg, Frank Scardilli, Lynn E. Schuldt